You haven’t lived until you’ve (tried to) duel inside the Sam Kee Building, the narrowest building in the world!
Less than five feet on the ground floor, and only six feet on the second floor including the window bays extending over the sidewalk, there’s no room to swing a katana.
The building, the skinniest in the world, is over a hundred years old and was built to spite the neighbours. When city rezoning left Sam Kee with a sliver of land, he was not going to sell it cheap. Instead, he built this!
What Can You Do Here?
Well, it’s narrow as hell. Just getting past someone is an accomplishment. Swinging a sword is impossible, but even just punching/clawing isn’t easy. Worst place for a duel, or best place? Depends on who’s style is more hindered! Might even the odds for you.
And SOMEONE is going out a second-floor window. Guaranteed. That’s not ‘if,’ it’s ‘when.’ And the answer to that is immediately.
Or, alternatively, once the next-door building is torn down for development that never happens, that five-foot-wide roof will let you swing your katana nice and wide, but forget about dodging, or backing up too far. If you’re the better duellist, this is the place for you.
There are tunnels under most of Chinatown, including one leading to this place. The expressed reason for the tunnels is to help people escape from opium dens when the police raided back in the day. If that’s the case, though, why are the tunnels (a) still there, (b) in such good condition, and (c) only accessible by a small elite group who have the keys to the high-security ultra-tech locks on the secret access points? And who’s paying for all that?
The building’s steel-framed, and we all know how good steel is for conducting certain magical energies. The design is perfect as a focus for some pretty powerful spell-casting. And when you add in that the building was created from a grudge? Those won’t be shiny happy spells.
So go on, get in there. You only live forever!
somanyrats 